


A Sequel Of Decay

by SeleneDarkbloom



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: A new (or old) creature is around, Alucard is caught in the middle, Angst, F/M, Like, Murder Mystery, Sexual Tension, a lot of that, bloody murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-07 16:37:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16857550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeleneDarkbloom/pseuds/SeleneDarkbloom
Summary: As Alucard decides to see the world he helped save, he finds himself in a peculiar little kingdom where beauty and blood walk hand in hand and their Queen is its biggest mystery.





	1. A Pending Solitary

**Author's Note:**

> I started posting this on tumblr, but seeing where that hellsite is going I decided to bring it here.

Alucard had taken upon himself to do as his father did and travel through the world of men. It was a vast place with much to be learned from, and a welcomed distraction from his life’s woes. He found himself in this peculiar little Kingdom. There was this aura about these lands that he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, which made it all the more interesting and worth exploring.

  
The sun was setting in the sky, shades as bold as tangerines. It sat within that sky, as if it looked over the earth, stretching out with sepia tones to everyone below. Adrian slowly made his way to the inn he had been staying at for the last couple of days. The owner smiled at him when he entered and politely said good evening and asked if he needed anything. Replying the old man, he said he didn’t need anything as of now and retired to his room.

  
It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was comfortable. A single bed with one nightstand on each side, a door leading to a washroom beside the bed and a small wardrobe was placed on the opposite wall and there was also a chair near the window on the wall adjacent to the wardrobe.

  
Alucard took off his coat and placed it on the bed before opening the window and feeling the evening breeze caressing his exposed skin and gently moving through his hair. He watched the people going to their homes for supper, others going to the local tavern. The sound of laughter and the occasional fight passed by his ears, but so did the gentle rustle coming from the trees and the hoots of a nearby owl. He leaned on the window sill taking it all in. He had found, after a while, that these simple things brought him some kind of peace and tranquility. Hearing, smelling and feeling _life_ soothed him. It eased the guilt he felt for killing his father, just a little, but it did. It made him feel like it was worth it.

  
Taking a deep breath and briefly closing his eyes he backed away from the window and walked to the nightstand where he picked up his journal and sat himself on the chair, the moonlight casting a silvery glow over him. He undid the brown leather ties that kept the journal closed and exposed the yellow pages that were, little by little, being filled with drawings and texts about the things that stood out to him on his recent travels. He picked up a piece of chalk and started drawing a rather gruesome scene he had witnessed that morning.

  
He was on the market when he heard a commotion, people were gathered in front of this house whispering terrified about something, he could smell blood and death. He followed the scent to the back of the house to a half opened window and that’s where he saw it. The man’s body was laying on the bed, his face contorted in terror. His sternum had been crushed in with such force that the ribs broke and the bones pierced the skin on the sides of his thorax rising to form a terrifying bloody shape on the dead man’s chest. He had never seen something quite like this. Surely who killed this man wasn’t human, now he definitely would have to stay longer in this place to figure out what was going on. He left as soon as a priest entered the room to set a prayer and 4 men started to move the body.

  
Alucard felt when he arrived to the little Kingdom’s capital that there were forces at play, forces he had yet to know, and with each new line he traced on the paper more questions surfaced in his mind. Maybe Belmont knew what killed the man, Trevor was many things, and a good hunter was one of them. But he couldn’t ask for his help now, he and Sypha were a long way from him, helping people somewhere else. He’d have to deal with this alone, like he did everything else. He was used to it by now, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t painful. Too much at times. He rose his eyes to meet the crescent moon on the sky above and wished, for a fleeting moment, that he wasn’t alone.  
Come morning he had just finished bathing when someone knocked on his door, _strange_ , he thought. Opening it he was met by two men wearing an armor with a crest carved in their breastplates. A wolf’s head with a menacing open jaw sat on the middle of the shield and there were two crows, one on each side standing has supporters, below the shield the motto read: _Sicut in vita et in morte._ _As in life so in death._ Now _that_ wasn’t a very heartwarming thing to see.

  
“Lord Tepes?”

  
“That’s me.”

  
“Her royal majesty requires your presence for dinner. I advise you not to refuse this invitation my Lord.”

  
The man’s tone was very convincing. And Alucard was now awfully curious about how did the Queen know of him and what she wanted. He only nodded in response.

  
“She’ll be expecting you at the ninth hour.” With that the two royal guards left. His stay in this country is getting more interesting and puzzling by the minute.

  
He dressed himself up and decided to head over to town and ask around to the people about their Queen. He wasn’t going to share a meal with her without some previous knowledge.

  
Downstairs he met again with the inn’s owner who apologized for the guards bothering him, Alucard politely said there was nothing to be apologized, for he should oblige to his sovereign’s wishes. He left and was met by a bright sun and clear blue sky, there weren’t many people in this area that was closer to the city’s entrance and farther away from the marketplace, which was his current destiny. The more he walked the more movement there was on the streets.

  
He acted just like another foreigner looking for things to buy and asked lackadaisical about their current monarch, trying not to raise any unnecessary suspicion. Apparently, she was from a very old and disgraced family who had once been a powerful dynasty on the region, and that they had been overthrown. 10 years earlier she had defeated the previous king and restored her family’s name. Some of the people thought of her as an usurper and an afront, a Queen with no husband nor any heirs. Others thought of her as a hero, a woman from a family who had lost everything, had alone taken back the throne and thanks to her they are living in the most prosperous and peaceful years in decades. He was now even _more_ intrigued and looking forward to meet this self made ruler. Now that he thought about it, her crest and motto were not a threat per say, but a show of strength.

  
The ninth hour was approaching and so he decided to make his way to the castle that stood on the edge of the town. The closer he got the more opposing it’s walls showed themselves to be, and sooner than he thought he found himself standing at it’s gates. He presented himself as Lord Adrian Tepes and the guards allowed him in. Passing through the gate he was met by another man, who guided him along this beautiful garden that soon gave way to a lake that surrounded the castle itself. The main doors being accessible only by a stone bridge carefully constructed over the lake, and it’s sides were covered in flowery vines that perfumed the air around him.

  
Crossing the doors he was taken through a great hall that met its end on a open room with three sets of stairs, one to the left, other to the right, and one in the middle right in front of him, he was was told the follow that one. It took him to the courtyard and on the other side of it there was yet another flight of stairs, that led to a set of bronze doors guarded by two men that opened the door for him and he found himself in the throne room. The most beautiful he had seen to this day. The stained glass windows went from floor to ceiling in simple but beautiful patterns, on each side of the steps that rose to the throne there were limestone statues of wolves standing on their hind legs, their heads pointed towards the ceiling, the throne in which she sat upon was of white Travertine, it’s back shaped like open wings and behind it there was the largest window from where the sunlight came through shining above her making her look ethereal and angelic.

  
He approached the Queen enough and bowed, his golden hair falling off his shoulders, a curtain in front of his face.

  
“Your Majesty. I’m Lord Tepes, I believe you requested my presence.” He rises to meet her eyes, stern and cold.

  
“You are correct. Welcome Lord Tepes. Have you been enjoying your stay in my country?”

  
“Yes, I have. It’s a lovely place.”

  
Alucard could feel magic emanating from her, so powerful it was nearly tangible. _What is she?_ The more time it passed the more questions he had, and he was determined to get answers.

  
“May I ask how did you know I was here and why have you invited me to your castle your Majesty?”

  
“I know everything that happens in my domain, who comes and goes? Are they a threat or not?” She pauses, “There’s a reason I have maintained peace here for as long as I have Lord Tepes.” She shifts on her throne bending forward just a little, focusing her eyes on his, almost like if she could see his _soul._

  
“That’s why I invited you here. I want to know what is a _Dhampir_ doing on my lands. And how will I have to deal with you, my Lord.” Her lips curl into the hint of a smile as she figuratively pulls the rug from under him.


	2. Breeding Afterthoughts

Alucard shifted uncomfortably at her words, folding his hands in front of his body. She knew a lot, but just  _ how much _ was that? He would find out one way or another. 

“I am merely passing through your Majesty. I don’t intend on causing any harm to you or your people.” She seemed to ponder on his statement for a couple of seconds. 

“I hope your words are true Lord Tepes.” She stood on her feet and made her way down the stairs, keeping her eyes on him. 

“I am a man of my word.” She circles around him, her hand lightly touching his shoulders. Her movements were firm and precise, Alucard follows her with his eyes, an inquisitive look on his face. She comes to a stop in front of him taking a strand of his hair and twirling it between her fingers briefly before letting it go. 

_ It is like touching the finest silk _ , she noted to herself. 

“Come on now, let’s eat.” She waves her hand, motioning for him to follow her. As soon as they are out of throne room two guards follow them a couple feet behind to ensure their monarch’s safety. 

“May I ask you something your Majesty?” Alucard cautiously says, keeping himself at arms length from her, he wanted to have a closer look, but he didn't trust her. Not after her revealing that she knew exactly  _ what _ he was. 

“Feel free.” She says and clasps her hands behind her back, the light fabric of her dress flowing with each gracious step she took. 

“I’ve heard a lot about you from your people,they had very different opinions on your person.” 

“Did they now?” She eyes him with arched brows and a smile on the corner of her mouth. She nods for him to continue.

“Some say you’re a heroine to this country having taken back what was stolen from your family and bringing peace to the lands, others say that you are an usurper and a shame to this country and to God.” He pauses and turns his face to fully look at her, “My question is: Which one are you? Usurper or heroine?”  

She takes a few seconds to answer, the dhampir seemed well informed himself. She was determined to know more about him, and by the end of his stay in her castle she would know. 

“That, my  _ sweet  _ lord, depends on one's point of view.” She noticed his face go from surprised to annoyed to inquisitive in a second. “If you were a devoted subject to the previous King, I am something for you to hate. If you disliked him, than I am your savior.” She says nonchalant.

“Yes.” He pauses, “But you still haven’t answered my question. Your  _ Majesty _ .” There was a light disdain in his tone. He was getting unnerved by her and she knew it.  _ Good _ . She thought.

“I’m both the usurper  _ and _ the heroine. I did forcibly take the throne from the previous ruler, I am a woman with a crown, God forbid  _ that, _ but I also took back what was stolen from my family and avenged their death. Things aren’t so simple as this or that, light or dark, good or evil,” She looks at him “ _ Man or beast. _ ” 

Alucard looks back at her her, lost in thought. “You are right about that. Things are never that simple.” 

“Glad we can agree on that Lord Tepes.” She stopped walking and unclasped her hands, gesturing to a small garden with a table on the farthest end of it. “I decided we should have a more private talk away from the noise in the Great Hall.” 

They sat on the table, the soft afternoon light giving the whole place an ethereal glow. While they ate, Alucard took a better look at her crown, the silver was shaped into intertwining branches and there were roughly long cutted Snowflake Obsidians evenly spread out, it was harsh, yet delicate. Which he was starting to think it was a good way of describing her. He still felt uneasy, she knew about his true nature, but he didn’t know hers, or much else for that matter. Part of him wanted to get up and leave as quickly as he could, but the other  part of him wanted,  _ craved _ , to know more. And so he stayed. 

She felt his eyes on her, she felt like he was peeling off her skin and leaving her exposed, all of her secrets, all of her fears; all of her desires. When she was told of his presence in her lands she immediately assumed the worst. Dracula’s son should be a dangerous force to be reckoned with. And being sure he wasn’t a threat was the most important thing. She now knew more about the handsome dark princeling, but much less than she would like to. Although he did seem not to be a threat to her, appearances can be deceiving and she knows that better than most.  

“Tell me Lord Tepes, why exactly are you here?” She takes a sip her wine, leaning back comfortably on her chair. 

“I am traveling. I wanted to see what the world has to offer.” 

“And so far what have you found?” 

“A lot. This world has more beauty in it than we give credit for. We let despicable acts committed by few eclipse that.” 

“Indeed. I think it’s something inherent of people. The pessimistic and dark view of things.” 

A moment of silence passes, when Alucard decides to ask her something. It was worth the try;

“I’ve seen a great example of that here. This little kingdom of yours is beautiful, one not looking close enough might think it is simply that. But yesterday I’ve seen the body of a man that had been brutally murdered. A sight I, at first, wasn’t expecting to witness when I arrived here. Have you heard of what happened?”

She adjusts herself on her chair and drinks more wine. “Yes, I have. Truly awful what happened to him.” Another sip, “I must say that when this matter first came to my attention yesterday, I thought you might’ve been the one that killed him.” Alucard widens his eyes mildly offended that she thought he could have carried out such a horrendous act. Sure, she didn’t know him and the Tepes name brings with it an expectation for evil. That is something Alucard wanted to change. 

“Worry not my Lord. I quickly discarded that as a possibility, it did not strike me as a vampire’s  _ modus operandi _ .” She tilts her head towards him and with an arched brow she continues,“Unless, of course,it is.” She gives him a slightly close-lipped smile. She was blatantly teasing him, she knew he wasn’t the one to blame for the man’s death. But she needed to have a good idea of who Adrian Tepes was and his reactions to her words certainly help her achieve that. He shifts in his chair, jaw tightened. 

“No, it is not something usual for vampires. And certainly not for me. As I’ve said before, I haven’t come here with any ill intent towards you and your people.” He drank his wine, as she observed him minutiously. They were both playing this little game to evaluate the other, searching for answers and breaches that they could use. Alucard decided to take this opportunity to dig more into the murder, he noticed how uncomfortable she became when he brought it up. She knew more than she was saying. 

“Well, then we both agree this is unusual. There was too much blood wasted to be a vampire attack, Werewolves would’ve teared that man apart. Do you have any idea of what did this?”  

“I don’t know yet, I have people looking into it. Whatever it is I’ll find it and kill it. I can’t have some wild beast roaming around my lands and killing my people.” She was looking away to the setting sun that casted a beautiful light on them, the oranges and pinks coloring everything below them. Alucard could hear her heart beating erratically. She was still lying, but why?

She turns her head to look at him, her demeanor changing suddenly. “Oh my, the sun is setting and I have affairs to attend to tonight. I’m afraid we’ll have to continue this another time, tomorrow morning perhaps? If you don’t already have any other compromises that is.” 

“Yes, tomorrow morning is good.” He nods positively. 

“Good!” She gets up from her chair rather...Excited? Which only made him more confused. He took that as his cue to put himself up and leave. 

“So, tell me...Do you believe me to e a threat?” He asks and she smiles in return. 

“I don’t know yet.” She steps closer to him, “What do you think I am? Heroine or evil usurper?” Alucard bents down a little, bringing his face closer to hers and smirks “ _ I don’t know yet. _ ” She chuckles and he takes her hand in his, bringing it to his lips placing a kiss on her skin. 

“I’m looking forward for our next talk your Majesty.” 

“I can say the same my Lord.” She pulls her hand away. “Have a good night.” 

“You too.”

They both start to walk in opposite directions, and then Alucard stops. “Your Majesty?” She turns back, “Yes?”

“You haven’t told me your name.” 

“I’m  Audelia.” 

“Beautiful. You already know my name, but you can call me Alucard.” They smile at each other and follow their ways. 

The gate is closed behind Alucard and he starts walking back to town. Determined to find out whatever he could from the locals and to figure out _Queen Audelia_ the next day. She knew something and he will find out what it is. More importantly what _she_ is. During the time he spent close to her, the magic she emanated was almost unbearable and it was _old_ magic. The type he had only felt coming from his father. And that bothered him very much. 

The sun had already set at this point, the stars shining bright in the sky above, she was sitting on a chair in a far corner of the room, fingers playing with the fabric of her dress. She was sure that  _ Alucard _ had no ill intent. But he was  _ too _ interested in that man’s death. And if she didn’t solve this problem quickly enough, things would take a turn for the worse. The door opens, catching her attention and a familiar figure walked in the room. 

“ _ Jesus _ , Delia! What are you doing sitting in a dark corner?” The young man approaches her, a lazy smile on his face.

“You killed that man Godric.” She said cold and without any sheread of doubt in her voice. He laughed. 

“You are pretty quick to jump to conclusions about what I do or not.” He leans against a nearby desk. “But yes, I did kill him. What’s the matter with it?” She clenches her fists and gets up from the chair walking furiously towards the young man. 

“The matter is that we talked about this! We never kill our own people and most of all,” She points a finger at him, inching closer with each step, “We keep a low profile.” The veins in her neck throbbing, heart beating fast with anger and most of all  _ disappointment _ . “Or do I need to remind you of what happened to our family because of their conspicuous slaughtering?”

“No.” 

“Good.” She calmed herself down, and Godric moved away from her, his jaw clenched. He hated that she told him what to do. 

“Why did you kill him?” 

“He disrespected me. So taught him a lesson.” He said apathetic.  

“ _ Taught him a lesson? _ ” Just like that she was furious once more. “You didn’t have to kill him to teach him a lesson! Your impulsive behaviour is starting to draw unwanted attention. This is the third time this last couple of months Godric.” 

“Damn it Delia, stop making such a big deal out of this! And stop trying to force me, and yourself, from being something other than what we are. This is our nature, we shouldn’t fight it.” 

She puffs and starts pacing around him. “This was the mentality that destroyed our family all those years ago. We were supposed to do better,  _ be _ better than mindless animals with too much power on their hands.” 

“You attached yourself too much to human ways. You forget that they were the ones to kill our family.”

“I remember, you know very well I do. But you’re missing the point here, we will have the same fate if you don’t control yourself.” 

“We are more powerful than them Delia, they should fear us. Not the other way around.”

She was growing impatient, Godric was going down a dangerous road. 

“Your logic fails to acknowledge that humans outnumber us.” She says with disdain.

“We can always work around that.”

“There is no  _ us _ in this scenario Godric. I’m not going to butcher innocents!” She shouted at him, storming towards the door right after. 

“Please, control yourself little brother. Don’t make me do something that we will both regret.” She slams the door behind her and walks away. Things were falling apart again, quicker than she thought.


End file.
